Private, for-profit companies are now providing the services that were once entrusted only to the public sector, which was accountable to the voters. There's now a profit to be made in running schools, incarcerating criminals, tabulating votes in national elections, providing running water, and even fighting in wars.

Serco Paid Millions Over Budget for West Australia Hospital with No Patientsby Fatima Hansia, CorpWatch BlogMarch 11th, 2014Some 230 staff are being paid to work at the new Fiona Stanley Hospital in West Australia, even though it will not open to patients till March 2015. The project has been labeled a “privatization disaster” and Serco, the contractor, has come under fire for the soaring costs.

Rurelec Wins Compensation for Bolivia Nationalization, But Little Profitby Richard Smallteacher, CorpWatch BlogFebruary 10th, 2014Bolivia has been ordered to pay $41 million to Rurelec, a UK energy company, in compensation for nationalizing the Guaracachi power plant in May 2010. The order represents a small profit for Rurelec which bought a 50.1 percent stake in 2006 but substantially less than what the company demanded.

Spanish Consortium Threatens to Stop Panama Canal Expansionby Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch BlogJanuary 6th, 2014Sacyr, the Spanish construction giant, has threatened to halt work on the expansion of the Panama canal unless it is paid an extra $1.6 billion. The company leads a consortium that won the 2009 contract after bidding to do the job for $1.1 billion less than the next bidder.

Police Attack Palm Oil Protestors in Sierra Leoneby Richard Smallteacher, CorpWatch BlogDecember 10th, 2013Sierra Leone police opened fire on a group of protestors who were demonstrating against a palm oil plantation in the southern province of Pujehun. The project is being developed by Societe Financiere des Caoutchoucs (Socfin), a French agri-business giant.

U.S. Security Checks Contractor Has Record of Rushing Investigationsby Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch BlogSeptember 27th, 2013U.S. Investigations Services (USIS), the company that signed off on a background check into Aaron Alexis, the military contractor who shot 12 people dead on a U.S. Navy base in Washington DC last week, has a record of rushing investigations, according to a number of former employees.

Privatization Profiteers from Pinochet’s Chile May Yet Face Prisonby Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch BlogSeptember 17th, 2013Julio Ponce, the billionaire owner of Sociedad Quimica & Minera de Chile (SQM), faces ten years in prison for insider trading. A beneficiary of former dictator General Augusto Pinochet, Ponce is charged with buying company shares at below market prices and selling them at a profit.

Sierra Leone Farmers Evicted for Sugarcane Biofuel Plantationsby Jennifer Kennedy, CorpWatch BlogMarch 5th, 2013Addax Bioenergy, a Swiss energy company, is jeopardizing the livelihoods of thousands of subsistence farmers in order to export ethanol made from sugarcane grown in Sierra Leone, according to the Sierra Leone Network on the Right to Food and Brot Für Alle, an NGO based in Switzerland.

Capita Bungles Deportation of Irregular Migrants in UKby Lily Smith, CorpWatch BlogFebruary 18th, 2013Capita, a UK outsourcing company, sent text messages to thousands of people in the UK, asking them to leave the country, as part of a privatized deportation scheme. Unfortunately hundreds of people that they targeted were in the country legally.